Back Now
by AnimeFan202
Summary: As Cherry watched her friend, she wasn't sure she'd ever really understand her. But then, it wasn't every day you met a girl from the future.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, this isn't the first joint story that I'm working on, but it will be the first one that I put up. Here's how the whole 'joint story' thing works for me. duckie lover 151 came up with the idea, but I'm writing the story. This is the complete opposite of the other story, where I came up with the idea, but she's writing the story.**

**Anyway, this is somewhat of a crossover between The Time Traveler's Wife (Which I haven't read, but she has and I don't own) and the Outsiders.**

**Well, the concept is almost the same, but I'm not using any of the characters from the book. I'm not sure if I'm going to include any other characters from the Outsiders, but this is mainly a Cherry story even if I do. YES! There is a plot to this story. ^^**

**So anyway... I own nothing and on with the first chapter!**

**Chapter One**

**Cherry's P.O.V.**

The first time I saw her, I thought I was going crazy. Then, once she started to explain, I was sure _she _was crazy.

And even to this day I question her sanity at times.

But if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that, even in her own time, Danny is one of a kind.

_~ Eight years earlier~ (Cherry is 8) (Danny is 6)_

_Not Cherry's P.O.V_

A little girl of just eight sat in her backyard. Her house was behind her. A giant white building that would've impressed many, but she simply saw it as home.

The yard behind their home was just as big. It was more a field than a yard, and that field was filled with wildflowers.

Tulsa was a big town. The Valances lived right at the edge of it. The next town over was mostly wilderness. It was a peaceful place. A nice change of atmosphere to come home to.

Mr. Valance had one of his business associates over. Mrs. Valance sat with them while they held their meeting. Every once in a while she'd check on her daughter through the living room's giant window. Cherry could be spotted in the giant field easily because of her hair.

Little did Mrs. Valance know, as she went to the kitchen to refill everyone's drinks, that out in that field, history was about to take place and her daughter's life would change forever.

One minute, Cherry was sitting in the grass, watching the clouds, all by herself. The next, another young girl was sitting beside her.

The girl was smaller than Cherry with straight brown hair and green eyes much like her own. The girl was wearing bright green shorts under a short purple dress both made out of sweat-suit-like material.

For a moment Cherry could just stare at her. Then she took a glance down at herself. Even her play clothes were lacy.

The girl returned her stare for a few minutes before finally deciding to plop down next to her on the grass.

Cherry immediately glanced at the big window in the living room. Her father was faced toward his business colleague, his back to her; her mother was no where in sight.

Slowly, Cherry turned back to the younger girl who was still watching her, remembering everything she'd been told about strangers. But those rules couldn't apply to little girls who literally appeared out of thin air, right?

So, gaining a bit of a superior air from being the obvious older, Cherry said, "My name's Cherry. What's yours?"

The girl just stared at her for another minute. Then she said, "My name's Danny."

Cherry narrowed her eyes, unsure if she was being teased. "Danny's not a girl's name."

"So?" Danny said defensively. "Cherry's not a name at all."

Cherry bristled. No one had ever picked a fight with her before. Especially not someone younger, though at this point she was unsure just how much younger Danny was. "Cherry's my nickname. My real name's Sherri." She explained, equally defensive.

"Well Danny's _my_ nickname." She seemed to grimace a bit before adding, "It's short for Danniella."

Cherry returned to staring at the strange girl for a moment, wondering why she would want a nickname when Danniella was such a pretty name.

"Well, that's all you had to say." she huffed.

Danny frowned back, just as frustrated. "No it wasn't. If that was all I said then you'd call me Daniella."

"So?"

"No one calls me Danniella." she said with a surprising amount of firmness for a six-year-old, clearly stating that there would be consequences for anyone who dared to use her full name.

"Well I want to!" Cherry protested, used to getting her own way. "Besides, you probably don't exist anyway!"

That shut her up for a moment. Then she reached up undid a bright blue ribbon that had been hidden under a few strands of hair. Cherry didn't move as Danny went around behind her and tied the ribbon into her bright red hair.

"There." Danny said, coming back around in front her when she'd finished. "Now you'll know I'm real."

Cherry gently touched the ribbon. "How?"

"Because when I disappear that will stay with you."

"When you disappear?"

Danny nodded, and then, without so much as a puff of smoke, she was gone.

Cherry stood up and gently pulled the ribbon out of her hair. It hadn't been tied very well; Danny must not've done her own herself.

She ran into her mother in the hallway almost immediately after coming back inside. "Hi, Mama."

Mrs. Valance looked down at her daughter over her tray of drinks. "Hi, honey. All done playing outside?"

Cherry nodded, noticing for the first time that her mother was still talking to her like she was five years old.

Mrs. Valance then saw the bright blue ribbon clamped in Cherry's hand. "Where'd you get that?"

"From Danny." Cherry answered with out thinking. Then she added, just so her mom didn't think she was outside playing with strangers, "She's my friend."

Her mother just stared at her for a moment, wondering if eight was too old to suddenly discover an imaginary friend.

"That's wonderful, honey. But Danny isn't really a girl's name." Before now, Cherry also had never noticed that her parents were always correcting her.

Without thinking she responded, "Well, Cherry's not a name at all!" Then she raced up the stairs like she'd been told not to do so many times.

Mrs. Valance sighed. Cherry must've found the blue ribbon in the pocket of her dress.

**Review please! No, this won't be the only chapter.**

**I don't own the Outsiders! I've never tried to write a Cherry story before... how was it?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so this really isn't going to be a pointless one-shot. (I promise!) It just took me a while to update... and then I procrastinated... then I put up new stories to procrastinate on... and now I'm finally getting around to working on this!**

**Chapter Two **

It was weeks before Cherry saw Danny again. She was at school this time. It was right after lunch, during recess. She was standing by the monkey bars with Marcia, her friend.

Cherry liked Marcia. She was really nice. They had met when Marcia's father had come over to have a meeting with Cherry's father. Marcia had dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin.

Surrounding the playground was a chain-link fence. One minute Cherry was laughing with her friend, everything normal as ever. The next Cherry spotted Danny standing behind the fence.

Cherry gasped.

"What's wrong?"

"Um, nothing. I just forgot something... I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay." Marcia glanced around the playground. "I'll be with Elli!" She called over her shoulder, then hurrying off to go sit with Elli's group.

Elli and her friends sat at one of the little picnic tables and just talked during recess. Cherry didn't really like Elli that much, (not that she'd ever shown it; Elli was nice enough to her) but she wasn't too sure why. Marcia had no such qualms.

Normally, Cherry would have tried to persuade Marcia otherwise. Today she was grateful. Elli's group sat on the other side of the playground.

Cherry rushed over to the fence.

Danny looked at it for a moment, as if she weren't sure why it was there. Then she began to climb over it.

"What do you think you're doing?" Cherry hissed once she got over to her, trying not to attract any attention. But by that time Danny was already on her side of the fence.

Cherry looked around. How had none of the teachers noticed? Was she going crazy after all?

Cherry reached into the pocket of her dress and felt the blue ribbon Danny had given to her on their first encounter. For some reason she liked to have it with her. Danny had to be real... unless she was _really_ crazy.

Cherry pulled her a few feet away from the fence. "Can they see you?" she asked.

Danny looked a little confused, just as she'd looked when she'd seen the fence in front of her. "Who?"

"The teachers."

Danny made a face. "Of course. Everyone can see me. I am real, you know."

Cherry was about to question this when a teacher called, "Girls, come away from the fence, please."

Cherry and Danny looked over and then walked away from the fence, just as the teacher had asked.

Cherry looked over and saw that Danny was once again in casual clothing. She had on blue jeans and a purple t-shirt, along with her sneakers. Didn't she have to go to school?

"So, why am I here?"

Cherry just looked at her. "How would I know?"

Danny looked thoughtful. Then she said, "My dad said that there are only two ways to for someone like me to appear somewhere. The first one is just a random thing. Like the first time we met and right now. The second is when someone summons you. They have to do this spiritual mind thing..."

Cherry noticed how she stammered over the word "spiritual" so she figured that for the most part Danny was quoting her father.

"So is your dad like you then?" she asked.

"He was..." Danny said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"There can only be one of us at a time. He died a few weeks ago... And then I became the time traveler."

"Oh..." Cherry wasn't sure what to say. She never talked to someone who'd recently lost a parent.

Danny was quiet for a moment, but then she brightened. "Every time we meet, it's supposed to mean something though."

Oh... But Cherry was never quite sure what this meeting meant, because in the next second Danny was gone once more, and again she seemed to be the only one that noticed.

**So, by the next chapter this story may actually have a real-live plot! :D**

**Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, this chapter actually does have some meaning. :) Surprise!**

**Chapter Three**

By the time Cherry was ten she'd already heard the word "greaser" floating around the playground.

When she asked Marcia about it her friend told her that it was basically a derogatory term for someone from the poorer side of town. Of course there was also some literal meaning to it because Cherry had seen some of the older kids who greased their hair back.

She was split half and half on this. No doubt the kids who were getting taunted now would one day be just like the hoodlums who went around earning their name. But it seemed kind of mean, setting them up as failures before they ever got a chance to decide.

Either way, no one bothered her. She was content staying neutral in this matter.

Even back then Cherry could have foreseen that, just based on who her friends were, she wouldn't be able to just let the issue alone forever. But a certain someone dragged her into it far before she ever thought she would.

Danny had taken to showing up every now and then. Sometimes it worked out like at recess. Others it was terribly inconvenient. Cherry would find the younger girl mysteriously outside in the hall after she'd been excused from dinner or up in her room when she was trying to do her homework.

Overall, Danny complicated everything. But Cherry had to admit to herself that she was starting to enjoy her company.

However, not so much this time when Cherry turned around to find Danny standing right behind her.

Cherry gasped and Danny snickered, a sly smile on her face. Cherry considered getting angry with the eight-year-old for sneaking up on her, but decided it wasn't worth the energy. Besides, today was too nice a day.

The sun was shining and it was unbelievably warm for early spring.

The only disturbance was small, just a speck in the back of her mind, but unfortunately it wasn't nearly as small to Danny.

Across the playground one of the older boys was taunting one of the younger ones. Cherry always had wondered why the adults considered it a good idea to put all the grades out for recess at the same time.

After looking further into the issue Cherry saw that the older boy was Bob Sheldon and his victim was Curly Shepard.

Now, if anyone was destined to one day be a hood it was Curly. At eight he was already following in his brother, Tim's, footsteps. Tim had been a dropout by the time he was thirteen.

Bob Sheldon on the other hand came from an extremely well-off family. His father worked closely with Cherry's, and even at twelve she could tell how good looking he was.

His last words reached their ears. "Why don't you just quit now, grease? You're never going anywhere in life anyway!"

His buddies laughed while Curly Shepard steamed, clearly ready to belt the older boy. The only problem being that Curly was alone. Not for long though.

"Who is _that?_" Danny asked in a tone that showed that she clearly did not see Bob the same way Cherry did.

But she didn't even give Cherry time to answer before storming over there to deal with him herself.

"Hey!" she called out to the arrogant boy.

He looked at her with about as much care as he looked at Curly. In his eyes she wasn't worth much more.

"Yeah? What do you want?"

"What gives you the right to talk to _anybody _that way? On top of being rude it's immature! You learn in PRESCHOOL not to say anything if you've got nothing nice to say. You think _he's _not going anywhere? Even the three and four-year-olds are ahead of _you!"_

Having made her speech Danny stalked off, leaving Bob glaring at her back and Cherry with her eyes wide open in horror at the spectacle she'd just made.

She pulled Danny aside as soon as she was close enough.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Danny pulled her arm away angrily. "The better question is why aren't _you _doing anything? This is your time; do you really want people like that ruling the grounds?"

Cherry thought Danny was blowing things way out of proportion, but she stayed silent.

She could totally see Danny getting picked on in her own school so she shouldn't be too surprised that she wouldn't tolerate it here.

In a quieter tone Danny continued, "Standing up for yourself gets you nowhere, Cherry. Things don't start to change until you start standing up for other people."

Cherry found this touching but would it really change anything? It seemed that here if you were on the bottom there was only so much you could do. And in most cases even those that prevailed stayed pretty dang close to the bottom.

And it didn't come with much credit considering there were no doubts which side of the ladder Danny resided on.

**Review please!**

**Hooray for meaningful chapters. I don't own the Outsiders.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Holy shit! I still exist! I'm surprised myself… Oh, yay for random inspiration… I reread the summary. XD This story was started back when it still was 2010. Now, it's 2012... XD**

**Though, good news! In the nearly year and a half that this story has been in-progress, I've managed to get my hands on a copy of the Time Traveler's Wife and read it. It was good. ^^ I suggest it to anyone who's looking for something to read.**

**Chapter Four!**

When Cherry was thirteen she started to see a change in herself, but even more so she began to see a change in Danny. Though, really, this wasn't until after she came back.

Cherry wasn't sure what had happened. Their last meeting hadn't been anything spectacular. They'd sort of just hung out, celebrating Cherry's birthday early as there was no guarantee that Danny would show up on the acutal date. And she hadn't. But what Cherry didn't expect was to not see Danny for four months.

While Cherry and Danny didn't always get along, Cherry had always counted on seeing Danny regularly. When she just… disappeared one day… it had been scary.

Though when she did turn up again, Cherry almost didn't recognize her.

Cherry had been walking out of her house, about to meet her boyfriend at the end of the road. (They were going to see a movie. It was kind of awkward to date at thirteen; it wasn't like the older kids who had their licenses and could drive themselves places. No, Zach's dad would be driving the two of them to the movies.) She almost wouldn't have stopped and recognized the girl as Danny if she hadn't just appeared. And when she did, Cherry stopped and stared. Well, gaped is the more appropriate word.

Danny had gone through a growth spurt, (not a huge one, she was still shorter than Cherry) but that wasn't what made Cherry stare.

Her brown hair, which had always sort of cascaded down her back, had been chopped short and dyed jet black. Hair was covering one eye where a bow was pinned, the exact same color as her eyes.

She had her hands in the pocket of her dark gray sweatshirt, probably because she wouldn't have been able to stuff them into her bright purple jeans which appeared to be at least a size too small.

Now, Cherry tended to stay well away from the greaser girls. She usually didn't think too much about them. But at that second, a thought crossed her mind… You didn't have to wear a super short skirt to look trashy.

However, all this wasn't even the scariest part. Danny's eyes, well, the one that Cherry could see, had gained a dull, deadened look.

"Are you just gonna stand there and stare all day? Hardly a welcome back…"

Cherry wasn't sure if Danny was trying to sound tough, but her voice was colder and had much less emotion than Cherry remembered.

"Where were you?" Cherry asked at last, deciding this was really the only safe question.

Danny shrugged, the poster child of not being able to care less. "All over. You're not the only one I visit, you know. Sometimes I go certain places, sometimes I just… don't."

Cherry hadn't considered that Danny had other friends from other times. She wasn't sure if that was supposed to hurt or not. She obviously didn't _own_ Danny, she couldn't lay some sort of sole claim on her. To be honest, she didn't really feel anything in regards to that. But she got the definite feeling that her strange friend had meant that comment to prick at her.

She heard a car horn beep from the end of the driveway and saw Zach's dad promptly telling Zach off for being impatient. She knew she she had to go, but on a whim she stayed just a second longer and turned back to Danny.

"We're going to the movies… do you want to come?"

Danny rolled her eyes. "Why would I want to go see some plotless movie with shitty quality?" she asked coldly.

Cherry was silent for a moment, surprised by the amount of anger in the younger girl's words. Then she shrugged. "Just wondering… figured you might want to tag along since I haven't seen you in so long."

"Well, I don't."

"Okay…" Cherry slowly began walking to the end of her driveway. Right before she got in the car, she turned back one last time to see Danny who was now staring at the sky. Cherry couldn't help thinking that she looked a little sad.

**Review please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Estrella, **

**First off, I'd like to thank you so much for taking the time to review this story. It never got a really big following and there was a time when I'd sort of given up on it myself. So thank you!**

**Second, I'd be glad to read your stories… except it was sort of hard to find you. Is your pen name Estrella? Because I searched that and nothing came up. If you could review logged in this time (or just send me a PM) I'd be sure it's you and then I'd R&R. **

**For anyone else who's reading, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter Five**

To be honest, Danny _really _didn't need this right now. She was fairly exhausted. Danny hadn't been lying. Cherry wasn't the only person she had to visit. There were plenty (often enough they were too plentiful) of other worlds and times that called for her attention. She rarely returned home before midnight. She barely had time to sleep let alone do her homework! Which was why she was getting more and more irritated every time her history teacher sent her piercing gaze her way.

Most of her teachers thought she was just another lazy student. She sighed. _You guys have no idea…_

Granted, given her current situation, she really should've been paying attention while she was in class, but she'd gotten a whopping three hours of sleep the night before. You could forgive her mind for wandering a bit.

She was doodling in the margins of her notebook, contemplating her name. She'd been considering changing the spelling of her name to D-A-N-I. A friend had suggested it to her actually. Sure, it looked cool, but Dani was a distinctly feminine way of spelling it. She didn't need to give her brothers any extra ammunition.

Danny crossed out the alternate spelling before feeling a familiar tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach. It was a thrill that sent little sparks of adrenaline racing through her limbs. For the sake of secrecy, she needed to get out of here, fast. Unfortunately, there was just one obstacle standing in her way.

With the state her grades were in, there was no way in hell Mrs. Harvey was ever going to let her out of the room. Nonetheless, Danny quietly made her way up the aisle. There was a pause in her lecture in which Danny asked (more politely than usual, she might add) if she may use the restroom.

She swore she could see a malicious smirk take over her teacher's face before the woman quickly composed herself and informed her that "students who didn't do their homework aren't rewarded with favors." Seriously, why did certain teachers get off on being so cruel.

Danny sighed and rolled her eyes. She wasn't about to disappear right here in front of her entire class. (She didn't even want to imagine the kind of heat she'd get for that.) However, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to help making a bit of a spectacle. The feeling in her gut was getting more insistent. Without another look at her teacher or the students, Danny strode out of the room.

She hurried down the hall and had just turned a corner when she heard a voice calling after her, "Miss Lowenthal, you get back here this instant!"

Danny was actually a little incredulous. That woman actually had the gall to follow her!

By the time she'd made it into one of the hideous pink stalls in the girls' room, she felt like there were sparks shooting through every one of her veins. Her vision started fading and she succumbed to the feeling, briefly reveling in the knowledge that by the time her teacher got there, she'd be nowhere to be found…

…

She didn't have the most graceful landing. She arrived in Cherry's backyard on one knee, a hand bracing herself against the ground. Luckily, no one had noticed but Cherry. Danny saw the curtains flutter and the next second Cherry ran out to greet her.

Danny stood upon the arrival of her red-haired friend. The fact that she was still able to call Cherry her friend came as a bit of a surprise even to her. Danny wasn't good at making friends. She didn't attach well to people. Thirteen now, she was surprised that she'd been able to stay in Cherry's good graces (well, for the most part) for so long.

Cherry seemed genuinely happy to see her. "Good morning, Danny. Gosh, you look different every time I see you."

Danny shrugged, but for the most part this was true. A recent fight with her mother had caused her to abandon her multi-colored skinny jeans. Lately, she'd settled into sweatshirts and baggy jeans. She only applied makeup on her most adventurous days.

In the earlier days she would've asked why Cherry wasn't in school herself, but she'd learned that the times didn't always match up. This period was a few hours earlier than her own. Don't ask her how that made sense. She'd accepted over the years that some things just… happen.

"You look preoccupied," Cherry noted.

Danny shrugged again. "Just thinking about my mother," she replied truthfully.

Cherry made a sympathetic noise. "Did you two get into a fight again?" Over the years, Cherry had learned more and more about Danny's family. She didn't know everything, but Danny had opened up a lot more than she'd expected.

The younger girl snorted. "When aren't we fighting?"

"What was it about today?"

"The usual. I swear, she's so old-fashioned. "She should live back now."

Danny had three older brothers. Every one of them jocks. It was when sports collided with her only daughter that things got tense between Mrs. Lowenthal and Danny.

"I swear, she is such a fucking hypocrite sometimes!" Danny continued. Cherry flinched at her harsh language, but Danny had worked herself up into a rage. "She supported all of my brothers during their football careers and encouraged that they make it a part of their college lives. But when I want to play soccer, this gets this snooty look on her face and says something like, 'my daughter isn't going to spend her whole life running around in the mud!'" Danny is practically steaming. Perhaps what angers her most is that she's _good_. Sure her grades are only good enough to keep her from getting kicked off the team, but the coach would hardly let her go without a fight. But it doesn't matter what she wants. Sports aren't _feminine._

Cherry looks almost as if she's afraid she'll be struck if she speaks, but she adds in her two cents anyway. "Maybe you should tell her this. Maybe you two could find some middle ground."

Danny gives her a withering look. Like, you think we haven't tried that? They've spent nearly thirteen years trying to find middle ground. She and her mother just don't seem to have anything in common. _I guess we have all the cliché mother-daughter problems, _Danny thought bitterly. _She doesn't understand me, nothing I do is ever good enough…_

"Whatever, never mind," she said, turning away to look out over the yard, literally turning her back on the problem. "God, this place looks boring. What do you do for fun anyway?"

Cherry smiled wryly. "We've been over this before. Nothing that you'd consider to be fun."

Danny turned back to her and smirked mischievously. "How do you feel about ditching school?"

Cherry gave her a look.

"Okay. So… how do you feel about ditching school to go jump of a bridge?"

"You're insane."

"C'mon, it's fun. Me and my brothers do it all the time."

Cherry smiled. Perhaps she was insane too, because she smiled and followed her friend. Oh, well… Maybe it paid to be insane.

**Review please!**

**Ugh… I really need to update my Digimon fic, but I keep getting inspiration for all my other stories!**

**I don't own the Outsiders.**


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